April 13, 2010

UAB Disc Golf. Download image.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - It isn't the Masters, but four University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) students are headed to Augusta this week to compete at the Collegiate Disc Golf National Championship April 15-18.

The members of the UAB club team who will compete at the national championship are senior economics major John Roberts 29, of Hoover; junior philosophy major James Williams, 21, of Little Rock, Ark; senior exercise science major Nicholas Fowler, 21 of Huntsville; and senior biomedical engineering major Justin Lesley of Moody.

Disc golf is played much like regular golf except players use discs that look similar to Frisbees® rather than using balls and clubs, and players aim for baskets instead of holes. The object of the game is to complete each hole with the fewest number of strokes.

The UAB club team, established three years ago, will be making its third appearance at the national championship this week. UAB will go up against teams such as Georgia State University, Kansas State University, Clemson University, California State University-Monterey Bay, University of Florida, University of Alabama, University of Alabama in Huntsville and the defending national champion, Mississippi State University.

UAB placed 10th at last year's championship.

Thomas Monroe is the team coach and is an adjunct physical education instructor in the UAB Department of Human Studies.

"These guys are athletes," says Monroe. 'They practice and they train. They may come to practice and toss 50 to 100 shots. Many have practice targets in their backyards and they will spend hours refining that putt and learning different kinds of putts.

"The game is easy to learn, but hard to master."

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